#26 | Riyad Mahrez - 2019/20 Performances

[BlueTG]

Navas never looked up before his final ball, consequently his crosses frequently went straight to the first defender.

Not in his first season, he created many goals that season.
Then our play became predictable and our team half arsed over the following two seasons. A little like now.

 

[domalino]

Navas never looked up before his final ball, consequently his crosses frequently went straight to the first defender.

He did by the end, but as @Lancet Fluke said, Pellegrini basically ruined him, making him cross to Aguero standing in the box surrounded by 8 defenders for 3 years. If you watch his first season, or saw him at Sevilla he was a genuinely good crosser of the ball.

The other thing is that Pellegrini was terrible at creating space for wingers. Pep spends a lot of time isolating our wingers so they have the time and space to pick a cross, then the ball goes out to them early and they attack a box with multiple runners and only a few defenders running backwards.

Navas would often get the ball shuffled out to him when the defence was settled and the creative players had passed it around and found no gaps, have 5-10m space to try and beat a defender and get a cross in before the bye line, and it's almost impossible - we've seen similar from Mendy, Cancelo and even KDB this season when Pep's tactics have broken down.

Anway like I said not the thread for this debate, but I wish Mahrez had his work ethic!

 

[Churchlawtonblue]

He did by the end, but as @Lancet Fluke said, Pellegrini basically ruined him, making him cross to Aguero standing in the box surrounded by 8 defenders for 3 years. If you watch his first season, or saw him at Sevilla he was a genuinely good crosser of the ball.

The other thing is that Pellegrini was terrible at creating space for wingers. Pep spends a lot of time isolating our wingers so they have the time and space to pick a cross, then the ball goes out to them early and they attack a box with multiple runners and only a few defenders running backwards.

Navas would often get the ball shuffled out to him when the defence was settled and the creative players had passed it around and found no gaps, have 5-10m space to try and beat a defender and get a cross in before the bye line, and it's almost impossible - we've seen similar from Mendy, Cancelo and even KDB this season when Pep's tactics have broken down.

Anway like I said not the thread for this debate, but I wish Mahrez had his work ethic!

Can't dissagree with that last sentence. Mahrez is lazy at times. Well alot of the time.

 

[Lancet Fluke]

He did by the end, but as @Lancet Fluke said, Pellegrini basically ruined him, making him cross to Aguero standing in the box surrounded by 8 defenders for 3 years. If you watch his first season, or saw him at Sevilla he was a genuinely good crosser of the ball.

The other thing is that Pellegrini was terrible at creating space for wingers. Pep spends a lot of time isolating our wingers so they have the time and space to pick a cross, then the ball goes out to them early and they attack a box with multiple runners and only a few defenders running backwards.

Navas would often get the ball shuffled out to him when the defence was settled and the creative players had passed it around and found no gaps, have 5-10m space to try and beat a defender and get a cross in before the bye line, and it's almost impossible - we've seen similar from Mendy, Cancelo and even KDB this season when Pep's tactics have broken down.

Anway like I said not the thread for this debate, but I wish Mahrez had his work ethic!

Had the best cross completion rate in Spain I think when we bought him, didn't he?

 

[mccity]

Had the best cross completion rate in Spain I think when we bought him, didn't he?

I remember his debut against Newcastle. He hit about 10 crosses with a great completion rate.

 

[Trojan1962]

I got the impression that Mahrez tonight thought he was too good to play against a league one team. It was a half arsed performance

 

[mccity]

Look I'm not saying he had a great game tonight; a lot of the criticisms of him are valid; but in fairness to him I'll point out a few good things he did tonight for the sake of balance:

Played a good role in the opener.
Had the fullback on his arse throughout much of the 1st half.
Linked up excellently with Foden in the 1st half.
Held the ball well under the early pressure.
Good corners.
Didn't shirk defensive duties all night.
Almost scored a nice goal, despite Hinchliffe's protests.
Unlucky with an offside goal contribution.


Ok nothing major and I wasn't best impressed with what I felt was an arrogant performance in the 2nd half. But opinion of him is only going to snowball into hate if we can't acknowledge the things he does right (same for any City player as far as I'm concerned).

 

[City_Sean]

He's a greedy fucker who puts himself before the team. He doesn't work hard and he nearly always chooses the wrong option.

If Leroy was staying then Mahrez would be out the door this summer for me.

 

[Cobra]

Look I'm not saying he had a great game tonight; a lot of the criticisms of him are valid; but in fairness to him I'll point out a few good things he did tonight for the sake of balance:

Played a good role in the opener.
Had the fullback on his arse throughout much of the 1st half.
Linked up excellently with Foden in the 1st half.
Held the ball well under the early pressure.
Good corners.
Didn't shirk defensive duties all night.
Almost scored a nice goal, despite Hinchliffe's protests.
Unlucky with an offside goal contribution.


Ok nothing major and I wasn't best impressed with what I felt was an arrogant performance in the 2nd half. But opinion of him is only going to snowball into hate if we can't acknowledge the things he does right (same for any City player as far as I'm concerned).

Not now Riyad.

 

[mccity]

Not now Riyad.

If I'm Riyad then where the fuck is my 200k a week? I'm being conned here lad, do you have Txiki's fax number?